And Finally Home

Another early start and I was heading back north. It took two trains, two buses and a plane but finally I was back in Glasgow! I even had time for my in-laws to feed and shower me before my generous big brother drove me to my gig. I know that any number of family members would have come with me indeed my brother was rather put out when he found I was going alone. Considering how much time I spend on my own I truly wasn't bothered, also I didn't see the point of any of them wasting money to see a band they weren't interested in just to keep me company. Being the friendly kind of folk I am I soon got chatting to the lady beside me who it turns out was such a fan she had been to every single one of Matchbox Twenty's UK gigs. I was very impressed and glad to know there would be someone more nuts than me close by.

It was a great gig with a mixture of old and new songs. Since their latest album is one of the few I bought whilst in Australia and I have been a fan for almost 14 years I was ecstatic. I sang and cheered so much that my voice was almost gone by the time my brother collected me at 11pm. It almost made up for missing them in Australia the previous year.

As much as I enjoy being back in the town I called home for more years than I care to remember the next day I was off again. Finally I would be heading back to my home base in Aberdeenshire (aka mum & dads house) for almost two weeks. One of the first things we did was to meet up with my cousin and Aunt for a quick catch-up lunch. Sadly again my timing was off as my cousin would be away for most of my visit home and therefore apart for the wedding this was my only change to see her. Having found 'the' dress for the upcomig wedding I was on amission to find the perfect shoes and since we were in town for lunch I htought it would be a great idea to start looking, how hard could it be? You'd think after the dress search I would have known better, who knew that high heeled back patent shoes came in such a variety of styles?!?! Eventually after many more days shopping my mother and I found the right pair, not to high, not to short, not to narrow and not too big. It was smaller than I usually wear but the others I had tried kept sliding off my heels so I thought this would be best since I didn't want them to fall off during my inevitable drunken dancing which has been know to be rather enthusiastic at times....

In between various shopping trips for shoes I did manage to remember that the day wasn't actually about me and my fashion sense. My mother helped me find a wedding rose  for my brother and his new wife's garden as a lifelong reminder of their joy and happiness on their wedding day. I had wanted to find the same rose as the bride had in her bouquet but they weren't garden roses so I hoped this would be an acceptable substitute. Back home we used our time wisely by relaxing. One of my favourite memories from this trip home though will be the afternoon my mum and I made some pancakes which brought back childhood memories of happy carefree days.

It wasn't all sitting about eating goodies though. My parents drove me to St Andrews so I could catch up with an old uni friend. I had hoped for a nice day so we could all enjoy our day out but typically it rained. My parents made the best of it and headed to the nearest pub whilst my friend and I had a great time catching up and walking around in between showers. It was strange to meet him in the place where almost ten years earlier we had graduated together but fun to see what was the same and what had changed both in the town and in our lives. 

So far my visit home was undoubtedly a success but what made it even better was (wonder of wonders) my DSLR arrived fixed and working like it had never had a fit at me all those months ago. This resulted in me going with my mum to her health club and taking many photos whilst she was getting beautified, to much amusement of the staff watching me. I don't know why but the sight of a 30 year old woman placing a small stuffed highland cos all over the place and taking multiple serious shots is apparently not a common one.

I was fortunate enough to have been given my beautifying treatments as a birthday present so before I knew it I was back on a bus and heading to my old home town again. At least for once I was travelling light as my mum had offered to bring my luggage with her the next day when she and my dad would be travelling down for my brother's wedding. Ao it was just me, Zack and an overnight case on our way again.